Every band is, at its core, a collision of everyone who came before them. We've never tried to hide our influences — in fact, we think being transparent about them is part of what makes the music honest.
When the four of us first started playing together in that tiny rehearsal space above a kebab shop in East London, the music that filled the walls was a strange mix: Radiohead, Massive Attack, The National, Queens of the Stone Age, and somehow also Ennio Morricone. Looking back, that combination explains almost everything about what we sound like now.
For me personally, hearing 'OK Computer' for the first time at age 14 was the moment I understood that rock music didn't have to be about power chords and rebellion — it could be about anxiety, technology, and the strange feeling of being human in a world that moves too fast.
Jamie's turning point was 'Endtroducing' by DJ Shadow — the idea that an entire album could be built entirely from sampled sounds, that production itself was composition. That philosophy bleeds into everything he does behind the kit and in the studio.
Marcus was obsessed with John Frusciante's solo records — the space between notes, the willingness to leave things unfinished. Sarah came from jazz, which explains why our bass lines always feel slightly unexpected.
"We don't try to sound like our influences. We try to feel what they made us feel and create something new from that feeling."
— Alex Turner
The new material we've been developing is the furthest we've pushed away from our starting point — and simultaneously the most connected to it. We're using more electronics, more space, more silence. But the emotional core is the same as it was in that rehearsal space above the kebab shop.
If the first album was us figuring out what we wanted to say, and the second was us learning how to say it properly, then whatever comes next is us trusting the audience enough to leave things open-ended.
We're genuinely excited about what's coming. And a little terrified. That combination has always been the best sign.
"Alex is the frontman and primary songwriter for The Sound Waves. When not touring or recording, he writes about the creative process and shares behind-the-scenes insights into the band's work."
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